Review: Logan (2017)

“Nature made me a freak. Man made me a weapon. And God made it last too long.”
– Logan

SYNOPSIS: In the near future, a weary Logan cares for an ailing Professor X somewhere on the Mexican border. However, Logan’s attempts to hide from the world and his legacy are upended when a young mutant arrives, pursued by dark forces. – via IMDB

Finally! Got out to see Logan, something I have been looking forward to, but also slightly wary of after The Wolverine, which I absolutely detested. I was hoping that this would be the movie we have all been waiting for for the Wolverine, and let me tell you, it totally is! Hugh Jackman returns as our favourite animalistic antihero, and man, he was just perfect again. As always.

Logan definitely touts a darker, more grown up story, and is so much more human than I expected. This movie isn’t about let’s save the day and take down the bad guys. No, this one looks more at Logan, his relationship with Professor X, and how he is getting on in life, yet is still angry and bitter about many things. Ever the antihero, I suppose. Logan has feeling, and this is evident every step of the way. There is some humour tossed in, nice and dark, but for the most part this is quite an intense drama, and the Wolverine movie we have been waiting for for years.

The effects were really good, and the movie was shot well. You were engaged from the off by both the story as well as the way it all came together, and the movie touts some excellent choreography, which we always wish to see when the Wolverine is out there. The cast is good, too, and I was particularly impressed with Boyd Holbrook, an actor I am familiar with from Narcos. While he was good in that show, he absolutely shone here, and I found myself  incredibly surprised. Also, big fan of his fancy arm.

Logan is heavy, dark, emotional, and just what the doctor ordered. It is a solid outing that will linger for some time after, and definitely cuts to the bone. Longtime fans will be particularly thrilled with how it all comes together.

Rapid Review: X-Men: Apocalypse

“Everything they’ve built will fall! And from the ashes of their world, we’ll build a better one!”
– Apocalypse

SYNOPSIS: With the emergence of the world’s first mutant, Apocalypse, the X-Men must unite to defeat his extinction level plan. – via IMDB

Yes! I finally went to see this. My husband wasn’t thrilled (he loves going to the cinema), but he knew it is one of the few superhero movies I will insist on seeing in the cinema. Screw that, any new movie in this franchise will have me tripping out, no matter how many installments. I know, it sounds mad. I think the reviews have been unjustly harsh towards X-Men: Apocalypse, though it is by no means a perfect movie. It definitely doesn’t have the wow factor of Days of Future Past, and the plot is a little messy (okay, maybe a dash more than a little), and there were some holes, and the pacing was a bit off. The villain, Apocalypse, was also quite disappointing in the long run. As much as I like Oscar Isaac, this was really not good. There was so much more that could have been done with this character! His rising and the X-Men battling him was so rushed and quick, his true power and danger is never really realised, which is a pity. Besides that, the cast is, as is to be expected, excellent. McAvoy is a fantastic Charles, and Fassbender, of course, delivers as the tortured Erik. I wish that the two of them had been given more screen time, if I am being honest, but I loved them when they were there. Also, Nicholas Hoult could have done with more screen time, too. Okay, I think one of the large flaws of the film is that there are a ton of characters, and none are really done any real justice. Evan Peters returns and owns as Quicksilver, which I loved. I must say though, his hit scene from DOFP was recreated here, and as entertaining as it was, it wasn’t perfect like the last one, and didn’t thrill me as much. It also felt squished in, like it was expected. Fun, but a little off. Sophie Turner really impressed me as Jean Grey (and trust me, this was something I was extremely leery about), and Tye Sheridan’s Scott Summers didn’t manage to peeve me endlessly, which in and of itself is a feat. Last but not least, I want to talk about how awesome Kodi Smit-McPhee’s Nightcrawler is. I was so stoked to see the Nightcrawler return, and to see him get such a large role was fantastic. Happy as can be! Look, he is no Alan Cumming, but he was still wonderful, and I am hoping to see more of him in future movies. Also, a young Storm? Yay! Yes, I had a total ball with all these things. I actually think this film is going to appeal more to people who love the X-Men franchise, and not necessarily newcomers. That being said, I enjoyed the story, but didn’t love it, it was flawed, but a fun film, the effects were good, but there were issues, but I would definitely recommend it for a watch. I really am such a fan of going back to see how the X-Men formed, how the relationships were, how everything was before, and I really think a great job is being done with that. I am going to stop now, before this review gets excessively long.

X-Men: Casting Successes and Failures – Tim The Film Guy

X-Men: Casting Successes and Failures

To avoid having the world’s longest post I will be limiting the casting to the first X-Men film. So you will have to submit a request for my thoughts on Vinnie Jones as Juggernaut (haha awful). First I will talk good cast then bad and explain why they were good and why they were bad from a comic book point of view. Some may disagree and I am sure I will be arguing with some in the comments but just shut up, like the post, share, comment and visit Zoë’s other X-Men posts. This should be fun.

Success:

Patrick Stewart as Charles Xavier

Picture anyone else as Professor Xavier. I dare you. It’s a role he was born for and he never seems to age. He could play this role for another 20 years. Now don’t get me wrong, James McAvoy did an excellent job of playing a younger less experienced Xavier and I am sure he will do great in the new film but as the classic Professor Xavier, it’s still Stewart. He is stoic, strategic and you know he has power beyond anything he is willing to use and Stewart plays that role.

Changes from original: Generally speaking the character is spot on with only a few surrounding plots that where either changed or missing from the films. Certain stories I would have liked to be included that help develop the character of Xavier such as His complicated upbringing (Interesting Juggernaut origin that has never been touched on), his failed engagement because of the Korean war, his meeting of Erik (Magneto) in Israel at a support clinic for Holocaust victims. There’s loads that they never really touched on.

Failure:

Anna Paquin as Rogue

When you give a comic book character a nickname of Rogue you instantly get what you are walking into. When you cast Anna Paquin in a role you know exactly what kind of acting you will get. How someone connected the two is beyond me. In the comics Rogue was an outgoing brash and powerful female character but in the film she a weak timid and eventually just a tool for the plot who needs to be saved.

Excuses: My guess for why they changed the character was simply for the plot. They needed a damsel in distress and making Rogue into that was the easiest option. It could also be for cost reasons as the majority of Rogue’s stories have her being able to fly and have super strength. Saved some money there.

Success:

Hugh Jackman as Logan/Wolverine

Wolverine was Hugh Jackman’s first real acting role in a film and boy did he start strong. If you asked most people who saw the first film when it came out who was their favourite character it would be Wolverine because Jackman really brought him to life. He was so popular that he has pretty much led every X-Men film that has come out since. Even First Class a film he wasn’t supposed to be in had a brilliant cameo of Wolverine that was one of the films many highlights.

Changes from original: Now bear with me on this one because whilst initially it’s a pretty insignificant part of the performance but it does affect the character. Wolverine in the comics is about 5’3” give or take in height but Jackman is 6’2” in height. Why does it matter? Well Wolverine was always a kind of underdog in all his fights; he’d attack like a wild animal, punch way above his weight and had a foul temper. It’s why he was named after an animal with many of the same traits. This kind of gets lost in the films I think. Also wear the f**king costume!

Failure:

James Marsden as Scott Summers/Cyclops

Nothing against Marsden I think he is really fun but he’s just not right for this role. Cyclops is the strong, strategic and commanding leader of the X-Men. In the film he was a miserable, jealous and pretty useless leader. I mean that love triangle between Jean, Scott and Logan was just irritating. Really hope they try again with this character because it’s such a waste.

Excuses: Again I don’t blame Marsden; he could have done a good job, I blame the script and Bryan Singer’s direction. Singer has in the past stated that he regretted not being able to adapt the character and even stated he couldn’t bring him back for Days of Future Past. I just think he doesn’t like the character.

Success:

Ian McKellen as Eric Lehnsherr/Magneto

McKellen can play anything he wants but when he plays an authority character he really owns the role. Whether it be Gandalf the Grey/White or more importantly Magneto! They showed the character in a lot of his comic glory in the films. Magneto was a man haunted by the events of his past and takes an extremist view to make sure what happened to him never happens again, but in doing so he becomes what he feared as a child, a dictator who believes in a superior race.

Changes from original: Well in terms of history, not much. In the first film they even showed him being separated from his parents in the midst of the holocaust, serious stuff for a comic book film. There are a few changes to his physique but I am not too sure how many talented actors in their 60+ years that look like Henry Cavill in Man of Steel.

Failure:

Shawn Ashmore as Bobby Drake/Iceman

You know what I don’t like in the X-Men films? Because the films have large ensemble casts the majority of characters have the same personality (none). This last pick could have been about a lot of characters but I singled this one out because he was featured more than the rest as the love interest to another failure on the list, Rogue. This relationship should have been a fascinating sub plot but was so unbelievable dull I just fast-forward any scene with the two.

Excuses: My current theory is that much like Rogue having Iceman as a main character with his powers would require a big budget that the films didn’t have initially. There is hope though; in the recent Days of Future Past trailer you can see Iceman pulling some really cool Iceman moves against some sentinels.

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Tim, this is an awesome selection, and I definitely learned a few things here I did not know before! Thank you very much for your participation!

 

 

Oracle of Film’s X-Men Parody Posters

When I was asked to contribute to Zoë’s X-Men blogathon, it didn’t take long for me to settle on this idea. You guys love the Stalker Saturday pictures, so why not give you a marathon of them, parodying those X-Men DOFP posters that came out a while back. While we are here, it would be great if you could all follow my little brother, Liam (@LeiAbbott). He is the one who draws up these pictures and I think he deserves the gratitude for bringing us some of the craziest pieces of art, week in, week out. He doesn’t tweet much, so he will hardly clog up your feed, but I will get him to follow you all back, so free follower! Yay! And of course, thank you, Zoë, for allowing me to collate these crazy pictures in a vague form of context. It is always a pleasure taking part in these blogathons and I have a lot more planned for other blogathons coming up soon. (Shitfest will be a parody of someone’s blog and my Cara Anniversary piece is my biggest project yet!)

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I am sure we can all agree this was most fun, once again! Thank you so much for the post Luke, and thanks to Lei for providing some massively entertaining artwork, as always!

 

Movie Rob Sporadic Scene: X2 (2003) – Nightcrawler’s Attack on the President

Today I have Rob here of MovieRob here, who graciously joined in with the intense X-Men Blogathon that is in full swing here on my site. Today he is going to discuss his choice for a Sporadic Scene with us! Thanks a lot for participating Rob!

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I was so thrilled when Zoë invited me to join in on this X-Men blogathon.

When thinking about an amazing scene is any of the X-Men movies, the first that comes to mind is…..well…..…I’ll get to that in a second…

In order to completely understand the scene that I’ve chosen, we need to see it in its full context.

In X-Men (2000), Senator Kelly talks about how fearful it could be for people if Mutants could commit crimes by using their powers.  He gives us a prime example:

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Senator Kelly: I have here a list of names of identified mutants living right here in the United States.

Dr. Jean Grey: Senator…

Senator Kelly: Here’s a girl in Illinois who can walk through walls. Now what’s to stop her from walking into a bank vault, or the White House, or [indicating the gallery] into their houses?

Dr. Jean Grey: Senator, please…

Senator Kelly: And there are even rumors, Miss Grey, of mutants so powerful that they can enter our minds and control our thoughts, taking away our God-given free will. Now I think the American people deserve the right to decide if they want their children to be in school with mutants. To be taught by mutants! Ladies and gentlemen, the truth is that mutants are very real, and that they are among us. We must know who they are, and above all, what they can do!

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This scene in and of itself just gives us a theoretical scenario, but when Bryan Singer decided to shoot X2 (2003), he opened it with the visual of that very scenario, a Mutant breaking into the White House to attack the President.

This scene where Nightcrawler takes on all of the defenders of The Pres while using both martial arts, his tail and teleportation is superb and it’s choreographed amazingly blending live action and Special effects

That’s why I think this is a Sporadic Scene.

If you have a scene that you would like featured, drop me a mail at sporadiczoe@hotmail.com with a picture/gif/video of the scene and an explanation as to why (should you want to include it).

Review: X-Men – The Last Stand (2006) – Screenkicker Movies

I’ll get to the point of this review straight away.  X-Men: The Last Stand is complete and utter shit.  I know I don’t speak for everyone but you’ll struggle to find anyone who really likes the film.  It would take about about a week for me to explain all of the aspects that I hate but by then Days of Future Past will have been released and you’ll all stop listening. You see, talking about the movie actually makes me nauseous so I’ll do it through the medium of art (let’s see if those 8 years of study at the finest art colleges* in the world pay off).

* this may or may not be a lie.

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Thank you so much Mikey! Really appreciate this, and love the layout! Really sticking to the theme haha!

 

Cinema Parrot Disco Sporadic Scene: X-Men (2000) – Charles and Erik Playing Chess

SCENE CONTAINS SPOILERS
(if you have somehow managed to avoid seeing this movie, beware)

It gives me great pleasure today to host Table9Mutant of Cinema Parrot Disco! She is sharing a favourite scene from X-Men with us, here it is! Lady, thank you for sending me something!

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I had to be a part of Zoë’s awesome X-Men Blogathon because 1. I really enjoy the X-Men films and 2. Zoë is cool so I’d probably do anything she said anyway. 🙂

So I’ve chosen a favorite X-Men scene for her great Sporadic Scene series. It’s an obvious choice but, to me, it’s the ONLY choice. Because, although I like the X-Men films a lot, I LOVE Patrick Stewart and Ian McKellen. And their bromance is absolutely adorable and has been loads of fun to follow on Twitter. So my choice is, naturally, the final scene of X-Men (2000) in which Xavier and Magneto are playing chess in the plastic prison. Watch these two legends at work! You know they can’t stay mad at each other forever… 😉

If you have a scene that you would like featured, drop me a mail at sporadiczoe@hotmail.com with a picture/gif/video of the scene and an explanation as to why (should you want to include it).

Review: X2 (2003) – Silver Screen Serenade

So when Zoë shared her plans to have an X-Men Blogathon to prepare for the upcoming Days of Future Past, I was totally in. I’d been thinking I ought to do something to get in the spirit, and I think this is just the ticket! Kudos for the awesome idea, Zoë!

When given a choice between the X-Men films to review, I immediately snatched up X2: X-Men United. In my opinion, this is the X-Men film to beat. Let’s talk about why, shall we?

Synopsis: “The X-Men band together to find a mutant assassin who has made an attempt on the President’s life, while the Mutant Academy is attacked by military forces.” –www.imdb.com

Why it’s awesome:

That opening! X2 doesn’t waste any time getting right into some action. I mean, an assassination attempt on the president within the first five minutes? I’m paying attention! And as for the would-be assassin…

• NIGHTCRAWLER IS THE BEST. Seriously, he might be my favorite thing about this film. Played brilliantly by Alan Cumming, Kurt Wagner a.k.a. Nightcrawler is just too freaking cool. His look, his power, his personality—I feel like this film nails it. He looks scary, but he has a heart of gold, and with only a few details, you get a sense of his tortured past. Plus, I love the designs on his skin. “One for every sin,” he claims. Very nice touch.

• Patrick Stewart as Professor Charles Xavier. Yes, Professor X is a character we’re introduced to in the first film, but he continues to shine here as the strong, wise, soft-spoken patriarch of the X-Men family.
• Hugh Jackman just…is Wolverine. At this point, I do believe Logan a.k.a. Wolverine has been a bit overexposed (he has a huge role in every X-Men film except First Class, where he’s limited to a brief albeit delightful cameo), but this is the surly tough guy’s second film appearance, and it’s great.

• Ian freakin’ McKellen as Erik Lehnsherr a.k.a. Magneto. So much yes. Aside from Tom Hiddleston’s irresistibly fun Loki, McKellen’s Magneto is my very favorite Marvel villain. He’s wonderfully suave, clever, and brutal, and his complicated “frenemy” relationship with Professor X is brilliantly portrayed. Also, his prison breakout scene is arguably the best moment of the film. Sheer awesomeness.
• Rebecca Romijn as Raven Darkholme a.k.a. Mystique. We don’t know much about her, but what we do know is that she’s sexy, sassy, smart, and an undeniable badass. She has some great moments in this film, but my personal favorite is when she breaks into William Stryker’s facility, then slides through a closing door while flipping her enemies the bird. Win.

• The coolness of Colossus (Daniel Cudmore). We may not know much about him, but man does he look awesome.
• The creepy intensity of William Stryker (Brian Cox). It’s hard for a plain old human villain to measure up to mutants, but Stryker does the job perfectly.
• Bobby’s “coming out” scene. When Bobby Drake a.k.a. Iceman (Shawn Ashmore) leads a group of mutants to his family’s house, he has to confess to them what he really is. The family’s reaction is less than favorable. You can’t help drawing parallels between this and the struggles of the gay community. It’s a smart tie-in to a very relevant social issue.
• The Phoenix teasers. There are a couple of them in this film, and even though Phoenix a.k.a. Jean Grey (Famke Janssen) doesn’t turn out quite like fans had hoped, the hints of power are still pretty great.
• Yuriko Oyama a.k.a. Lady Deathstrike (Kelly Hu). When those adamantium claws sprout from her fingertips and she takes on Wolverine, it’s the best.

That scene near the end where the mutants talk to the president. Everything freezes, it’s dark and stormy, the mutants speak from the shadows…Mr. Prez, you’d better LISTEN!

• In general, I just think the script is really sharp for this one. The dialogue is great, the pacing pretty spot-on, and the story, though ambitious, works well. Kudos, X2!

Clearly, I love this one. But if I have to pick on a few things…

The (few) things that bother me:

I don’t love Jean, Rogue (Anna Paquin), or Storm (Halle Berry), and I hate that because they’re all such potentially awesome characters. The problem is Famke Janssen can’t act her way out of a paper bag, Rogue doesn’t have nearly enough sass and is a little whiny (I blame the writers more than Paquin), and Storm is miscast as well as sans the cool African accent she is supposed to have. I read a list the other day of miscast X-Men where the writer suggested Angela Bassett instead of Berry in the role. Anyone who has seen Bassett in American Horror Story: Coven knows why that idea made me giddy.

BEST. STORM. EVER.

I hate the Logan/Jean/Scott love triangle. Is that a thing in the comics? I hate it. I hate how it makes Scott a.k.a. Cyclops (James Marsden) act toward Logan, I hate how Jean kind of leads Logan on, and I hate how it makes Logan a bit mopey. Do you guys feel the same? I don’t know. Maybe the prevalence of love triangles in, like, every recent book and movie has made me bitter toward them.

make them staaaaahp!

• Stryker’s team breaks into the X-Mansion like it’s child’s play. Isn’t that place supposed to be super duper guarded? I feel like Professor X would’ve put more thought into that.
• John Allerdyce a.k.a. Pyro (Aaron Stanford) is just an annoying psycho. There’s not much done to develop his character, and by the time he abandons the X-Men for Team Magneto, I’m like, “Whatever, bro.” Could not care less. Do we even really need him?
• So if you’ve gotten this far, I’m sure you don’t care about spoilers, but SPOILERS! So Jean heroically sacrifices herself by stepping outside of a jet full of her X-Buddies and powering it up before rushing waters come to drown them. Here’s my question: Why couldn’t homegirl power up the jet from the inside? I guess you could argue that she also has to hold back the waters, but earlier in the film she stopped a missile from inside the jet. I see no reason she couldn’t hold back the water from inside it, too.

GET IN THE JET, YOU DUMB BITCH.

Summary:

I love this film. In my opinion, it’s the best X-Men so far (we’ll see how Days of Future Past stacks up), and it does all the things a good sequel is supposed to do: show us more of the characters we love while introducing a few awesome new ones, thicken the plot and put it on a grander scale, and improve upon and/or equal the previous film in greatness. Check, check, and check. This is one of my favorite superhero films for good reason.

My Rating: 9/10 (Probably an A on my rating system)

Thanks so much for letting me participate, Zoë!  X-Men Blogathon ruuuuuules! 😀

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Thanks a million for participating Cara, this was an awesome review! I would have loved to see Bassett rock the Storm role!

X-Men Polls

So this whole X-Men run is in full swing, there have to be some polls. I have never actually done one of these but I thought now would be the time. I will be releasing the results at the end of the run, so on Friday next week. Hope you all vote for your favourites and answer some questions I have here!

So now the question stands, of the pre-existing X-Men movies that have been released, which one ranks as your favourite?

Obviously because there are favourites there has to be a hated section, too. As above, so below!

Now on to the characters. Because there are so many, I have given you the opportunity to pick your top five!

For interest’s sake, this is something I would like to know.

How are you feeling about the upcoming X-Men: Days of Future Past?

Review: X-Men (2000)

“Why do none of you understand what I’m trying to do? Those people down there – they control our fate and the fate of every other mutant!”
– Magneto

Yes, I know this was something I reviewed a while ago, and I have been threatening to review it from scratch again along with all the films that fall a part of this canon and just never got around to it. Here I am updating it for my X-Men run (finally)!

A new generation of man has emerged, and this generation is being drawn into the public eye more and more, and needs defenders to back it up. This is the generation of the mutants, their genetics altered from the average person, making them irrevocably different and ultimately special. Dr Jean Grey (Famke Janssen) is the public face for the mutants, defending them and attempting to veto ridiculous votes such as registries and acts to segregate the mutants from the rest of the American population. The forerunner against the mutants is Senator Kelly (Bruce Davison), and nothing he learns will sway his stance on the subject.

“Mankind is not evil, just… uninformed.” – Professor Charles Xavier

Marie, a.k.a. Rogue (Anna Paquin) is on the run after almost killing the first boy she ever kissed, and meets up with Logan, a.k.a. Wolverine (Hugh Jackman) at a bar outside a town, pegging him for being different. She sneaks in a lift with him, and he finds her. They are ambushed by a group of mutants, and are saved by another group. Wolverine and Rogue are taken back to an area that they learn is a school for the mutants, established by Professor Charles Xavier (Patrick Stewart). Here they have a place where they are looked after, accepted and taught life skills. Being the loner, Wolverine wants out, and is intent on making that happen. He is, however, very taken with Jean Grey, and her boyfriend Scott Summers, a.k.a. Cyclops (James Marsden) is not impressed at all.

Soon they learn that Erik Lehnsherr, a.k.a. Magneto (Ian McKellan), is after Wolverine, and they are sure it has to do with his abilities to heal. He believes that a war is imminent, and has en evil master plan to win no matter the costs. Magneto sends in Mystique (Rebecca Romijn) to capture the senator, and from there his evil plan becomes slowly unveiled. Professor X is convinced that given enough time the normal people will accept the mutants, being very much the idealist. As a realist, Magneto and his troubled past knows that people do not accept that which they do not know, they ostracize it, and make it suffer. He wants to hurry up the genetic mutations in people. Senator Kelly escapes and rushes off to Jean Grey at the mutant academy, not knowing where else to go now that he is one of them, and desperate to survive this. Magneto kidnaps Rogue, and Professor X uses Cerebro to locate her. Suddenly it makes sense to all of them why she would be the one. He is willing to transfer his powers to her briefly to implement what he is too weak to do, and not willing to die for.

“Mutants are not the ones mankind should fear.” – Dr Jean Grey

The X-Men need to gear up and get ready to fight Magneto and his vile plans to save the rest of the world from being wiped out. Magneto has no patience, and also no desire to let people choose their own paths, their own destiny. Wolverine feels he owes Rogue, and is intent on saving her, but will he be in time? The X-Men band together to fight evil, but will they save the girl? Will they be able to save the people?

“If they have anything that can pick up our jet, they deserve to catch us.” – Cyclops

A 7.5/10.  I have enjoyed this movie since I was a child. The first time I watched it I literally finished it, rewound the VHS and started all over again. You know how kids can get? Obsessive, I think, would be the only way to summarize it correctly. So because of that I have a soft spot for it. The effects were not bad for their time, but are a little dubious should you look them over too closely now. The story is alright, but has a few holes, and is slightly rushed, but not to the extent that none of it makes sense or that nothing sinks in. Hugh Jackman is so perfectly cast as the Wolverine, and I don’t think anyone could play it as successfully as he did. I am putting it out there right off the bat so it has been say, I have never been a fan of Scott Summers or the red that makes him Cyclops. I think he is a total chop, and I was not a fan of the casting, though it might be more due to disliking the character than anything else, not so much the actor. Halle Berry really had terrible acting skills, and she is truly not amazing, and doesn’t really bring much to the story. Her character was incredibly weak. Ian McKellan and Patrick Stewart rocked their roles (I expected nothing less), and have a great chemistry to show how the friends have turned on one another, though still respect each other. Very well done for that! Every time I see the piece of Magneto in the concentration camps I get to sad. Definitely worth checking out, and a really fun set of films to watch. This is definitely a good entry to the superhero genre. X-Men truly sports a fantastic cast and is very well done and holds up pretty well, even after all this time.